Fast Pedaling at SMC!

Lunch on the Promenade? Missed the shuttle to the Performing Arts Campus? Need to catch the (soon-to-be) Expo train? A new, grant-funded bike share program may be the answer!

Initial plans are to add 35 bike-share stations and 350 bicycles over the next 18 to 24 months in the Santa Monica area, including at each of the SMC campuses, as well as in neighboring Westside cities.

The $2.8 million program is an initiative of the City of Santa Monica, with partial funding from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Southern California Air Quality Management District.

Bike sharing, the short-term rental of bicycles for one-way or round trips, has long been popular in Europe and is gaining traction in cities including Seattle, Minneapolis and Denver. Anaheim and Los Angeles are in the process of adopting bike-sharing programs.

SMC Academic Dean Erica LeBlanc

City officials see the program as ideal to addressing an overall need to reduce car trips, especially to complement the Expo Light Rail line, slated to arrive in Santa Monica in 2015. The program allows riders to bicycle to and from the Santa Monica stations and provide the essential first- and last- mile link.

Connecting the SMC campuses with the light rail stations by bicycle is a natural. SMC’s Academy campus is about a third of a mile from the Bergamot station, the main campus is about two-thirds of a mile from the 17th and Colorado station, the Performing Arts campus is about three-quarters of a mile from the downtown Santa Monica station, and the Bundy campus is about a mile and a quarter from the Bundy station.

The project fits well with the other bicycle facilities improvements underway at SMC. Work is now underway on a second new bicycle parking lot on the main campus, with a bicycle pump station and video surveillance, expected to open in January 2013. The College has also included secure bike parking storage in two locations, one in the parking structure now under construction on the Main Campus and the other in a parking structure under construction at the Academy Campus at Olympic and Stewart. Shower and locker facilities for bicyclists are also being included in a replacement Physical Education building expected to open in 2014.

An SMC student and staff task force is reviewing ways to make the program accessible to most students and to keep the cost of bike rental reasonable. The City expects to have a private operator chosen by mid-2013 and the system running by late 2013 or early 2014.

Bike Sharing: How It Works

• Bikes can be rented for one-way travel

• Bikes can be picked up or dropped off at 35 locations in Santa Monica and surrounding communities

• Five of these locations will be on Santa Monica College campuses

• Associated Student leaders and SMC officials are discussing payment options for students

• $2.8 million project is funded by the City of Santa Monica and by grants from Los Angeles County Metro and from the Southern California Air Quality Management District

Bike Improvements: What’s Next?

• Bike Parking—a 400-space bike parking lot opens in January 2013 on the main campus, with bicycle pump stations and video surveillance

• Bike storage—Bike lockers are included in the parking structures now in construction at the AET campus and on the main campus

• shower and locker facilities—Facilities for cyclists are included in a new Physical Education building that begins construction in late 2013

• Bike parking plaza—a second major bike parking lot has been planned for the north side of the main campus to tie into the Expo Light Rail station at 17th and Colorado

SMC President Dr. Chui L. Tsang

STAY SAFE! Tips for the Urban Bicyclist

Ride with traffic—do not ride against traffic. Obey all traffic laws and signals. Be visible, alert, and communicate your intentions. Use hand signals for turning and for all stops. Don’t ride on the sidewalk. Don’t pass on the right. Never, ever move left without looking behind you first. Use a mirror. Get a headlight. Get a rear light. Protect yourself—wear a helmet. Wear something bright, even during the day. Watch for road hazards and cars in driveways. Use extra caution in poor or wet weather.

Corsair Staff Wins State Awards for Excellence

At far left standing is
Corsair
advisor Saul Rubin and kneeling just below him is photo advisor Gerard Burkhart.
At far right standing is
Corsair
Editor-in-Chief Nathan Gawronsky.

The Santa Monica College student newspaper the
Corsair
won 14 awards—including online General Excellence—at the 2012 Southern California conference of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges held at Cal State Fullerton October 5-6.

Corsair
design editor Nathalyd Meza won four awards, including a first and second place for front page layout, and a first place award for the news judgment and layout contest held at the conference. Meza also won a third-place award for an ad she designed to promote the
Corsair.

More than 330 students from 23 community college journalism programs attended the annual JACC regional conference. Students participated in several on-the-spot writing and photography contests and also attended workshops offered throughout the two-day event. The results of mail-in contests recognizing top work from last year were also announced at the convention.

Staff Photographer Michael Yanow and Design Editor Nathalyd Neza. Michael Yanow was named Student Photojournalist of the year by the Press Photographers Association of Greater
Los Angeles earlier this year

The
Corsair
dominated the video journalism contest by capturing both first and second place in the category, with first place going to multimedia editor Ian Kagihara and second place to news editor Andy Riesmeyer and photo editor Paul Alvarez Jr.
Corsair
photographer Amy Gaskin earned a first place for the bring-in photo contest where the assignment was to produce an image related to the election season. David Hawkins, who began serious study of photography a few short weeks prior, earned first place in the on-the-spot sports photo content.

The writing team of Riesmeyer, editor-in-chief Nathan Gawronsky and former news editor Fatou Samb earned first place in the mail-in news story category for coverage of the pepper spray incident at last semester’s Board of Trustees meeting.

Saul Rubin is the
Corsair
advisor and instructor of the journalism class that produces the print and online editions of the
Corsair, while instructor Gerard Burkhart is the photo adviser.

Heart Mountain

In the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President FDR authorized the relocation of over 100,000 persons of Japanese descent to internment camps in remote areas of the country. Through text, music, dance and powerful imagery, Heart Mountain chronicles the life of a family in one such camp as it struggles to maintain dignity.

The world premiere drama, staged by the SMC Theatre Arts Department, includes dance, martial arts and powerful imagery and tells the story of a family in a World War II Japanese interment camp. The play ran this past Fall, and has been entered into competition at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

Commissioned by Department Chair Perviz Sawoski, who is also the director and choreographer, “Heart Mountain” takes its name from one of the internment camps set up for the relocation of Japanese and Japanese American citizens in 1942 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. More than 100,000 persons of Japanese descent were sent to internment camps in remote areas of the country, including Heart Mountain in Wyoming, which became a center for a draft resistance movement.

Although the play follows a fictional family as it struggles to maintain dignity and cohesion in the face of difficult choices of conscience, it was inspired by research that included interviews with former camp internees and their relatives as well as other sources. The play also includes dance and movement inspired by Butoh, as well as audio-visual material.

The play was written by G. Bruce Smith, SMC’s public information officer and an award-winning playwright.

Director’s Notes

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which permitted the military to circumvent the constitutional safeguards of American citizens in the name of national defense.

The order set into motion the exclusion from certain areas, and the evacuation and mass incarceration of 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast, most of whom were U.S. citizens or legal permanent resident aliens.

These Japanese-Americans, half of whom were children, were incarcerated for up to four years, without due process of law or any factual basis, in bleak, remote camps surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards.

They were forced to evacuate their homes and leave their jobs; in some cases family members were separated and put into different camps. President Roosevelt himself called the ten facilities “concentration camps.”

Some Japanese-Americans died in camps due to inadequate medical care and the emotional stress they encountered. Several were killed by military guards posted at the camps for allegedly resisting orders.

At the time, Executive Order 9066 was justified as a “military necessity” to protect against domestic espionage and sabotage. However, it was later documented that “our government had in its possession proof that not one Japanese American, citizen or not, had engaged in espionage, not one had committed any act of sabotage.”
(Michi Weglyn, 1976)

Rather, the causes for this unprecedented action in American history, according to the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, “were motivated largely by racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.”

Almost 50 years later, through the efforts of leaders and advocates of the Japanese American community, Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Popularly known as the Japanese American Redress Bill, this act acknowledged that “a grave injustice was done” and mandated Congress to pay each victim of internment $20,000 in reparations.

The reparations were sent with a signed apology from the President of the United States on behalf of the American people. The period of reparations ended in August of 1998. Despite this redress, the mental and physical health impacts of the trauma of the internment experience continue to affect tens of thousands of Japanese Americans. Health studies have shown a two times greater incidence of heart disease and premature death among former internees, compared to non-interned Japanese Americans.
(As reported by a PBS documentary on the internment of Japanese Americans during WW II)

This production is a result of the collaborative efforts of many persons. Even though the play recounts the story of one family in one camp, it represents several stories collected through live interviews and research into life at several camps throughout the United States. The movement forms used in this production are inspired by Butoh, a philosophy and way of life. Butoh, as a movement form, originated in Japan in the 1950s in the post-Hiroshima and Nagasaki period. Originated by Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ono, Butoh explores the unconscious mind, the suppressed impulse and the darker side of the human condition.

I am indebted to many persons and organizations who contributed to this effort. First and foremost, G. Bruce Smith who wrote this heart-wrenching play; Noboru and Lily Kamibayashi who contributed their stories; Makiko Fujiwara-Skroba, Shiori Ideta, Keiko Terashima, Judy Louff and Jeff Shimizu who provided guidance and insight into language, culture and customs; Judy Louff who went above and beyond to help with all the organizational aspects related to this production; Tom Ikeda of Densho, a major resource on this subject; Oguri-San of Body Weather Laboratory who provided the inspiration and language of movement in this production. I am also indebted to our creative and technical team for their immense contribution in giving the production its polished look and sound. Thank you Lacey Anzelc (set designer), Greg Rutledge (sound and audio visual designer), Ian Mitchell (lighting designer), Doug Forsyth (technical director), Kristie Rutledge (staff costume advisor), Lauren Woods (student costume designer), Signe Elvin-Nowack and Hannah Kruger (student make-up designers), Terrin Adair-Lynch (faculty make-up advisor), Hannah Kruger and Sara Sulander (stage managers
par excellance) and Jennifer Bulger (my amazing dance captain). Last and not least, I am indebted to my brilliant and energetic cast who trusted me and blindly followed my vision, working endless hours to perfect their parts and without whom there would be no production. Thank you all!!

Cast

Hotaka Nakashima Isaac Ché
Issei. Born in Japan in 1887. Immigrated to the U.S. in 1907

Katsumi Nakashima Yilin Hsu-Wentlandt
Shiori Ideta (11/2 Performance)
Issei. Born in Japan, 1900. Immigrated to the U.S. in 1919 as a picture bride

George Katsuro Nakashima Kelvin Chiang
Hotaka’s son. Nissei. Born in the U.S. in 1924

Sayuri “Lily” Nakashima Clara Sao
Hotaka’s daughter. Nissei. Born in the U.S. in 1927

Takeo Alex Valdivia
Ghost of Katsumi’s grandfather. A Shogun warrior. Born in 1845

Shizuka Katayama Casey Masamitsu
Issei neighbor of the Nakashima family, who was also sent to Heart Mountain

The November 4, 2012 performance of “Heart Mountain” was followed by a panel discussion featuring five individuals who lived in the camps.

Panelist Noboru Kamibayashi was born in Washington in 1930, moved to Venice with his family at the age of one, and was interned at Manzanar and Tule Lake. As “no-nos,” the family was sent to Japan at the end of the war. After living there for two years, he returned to the U.S., served as an interpreter during the Korean War, and worked in the aerospace industry until his retirement.

A 58-year resident of Santa Monica, he has shared his oral history with the National Park Service at Manzanar and various high schools, and is included in the book “Children of Manzanar.” An interview with Kamibayashi and his wife Lily, who was interned at Poston, was part of the research for “Heart Mountain.”

Panelist Arnold Maeda was born in the farmlands of Santa Monica in 1926. His parents later started the Santa Monica Nursery on 28th Street and Colorado Avenue. He graduated from McKinley Elementary School and Lincoln Junior High School, and attended Santa Monica High School (Samohi) for almost two semesters. The balance of high school was spent at Manzanar, where he received a diploma from Manzanar High School in 1944.

The recipient of an honorary diploma issued by Samohi in 2001, he is currently a member of the group organizing the Venice Japanese American Memorial Marker at Lincoln and Venice boulevards.

Panelist Brian Maeda, Arnold’s younger brother, was born in Manzanar in 1945 and attended film school at UCLA, where he was one of the founding members of Ethno Communications, the first Third World film group in the nation. A member of IATSE, the union of professional stagehands, motion picture technicians, and allied crafts, since 1971, he was one of the first Asian Americans to be accepted into the International Cinematographers Guild.

He worked on such films as “Bound for Glory” and “Uncommon Valor” before segueing into writing and directing films about Japanese and Japanese Americans. His current project is a documentary entitled “We Said ‘No-No,’” funded by a 2011 National Park Service grant.

Panelist Joyce Masamitsu (née Tsuchida) was born in Boyle Heights in 1924, the oldest of seven children. Interned at Poston I from 1942 to 1944, she has lived all around the U.S. and has been a resident of Mission Hills since the 1970s. She has five children and nine grandchildren, including cast member Casey Masamitsu.

Panelist Kanji Sahara was born on small island in Hiroshima-ken and moved to Los Angeles with his family as an infant. Though he was very young at the time, he remembers being incarcerated at the Santa Anita Assembly Center and the two War Relocation Authority camps in Arkansas, Rohwer and Jerome. His family relocated to Chicago, where he attended public schools.

Now a resident of Torrance, Sahara serves as civil rights chair for the JACL’s Pacific Southwest District.

Spring 2013 Offers International Students
a Great Beginning to Their College Careers!

Santa Monica College is #1 in transfers to the University of California, including UCLA! Many international students choose Santa Monica College to begin their college careers because of SMC’s transfer success, high-quality teaching, and low cost.

The Intensive English Program at Santa Monica College will help you make real progress in college. This program offers a strong plan to help you improve your skills in speaking, reading, listening to, and writing English. For admission requirements and more information, you can contact SMC’s International Education Center on the main campus, or call (310) 434-4217. Intensive English tuition is $3,200 for spring semester 2013. Classes begin on February 11. For information on the web, go to
www.smc.edu/international.

SPEAK / READ / LISTEN / WRITE

English — Intensive ESL

“Coming to a new country, it’s better to start small…
SMC really helped! The intensive English program is like a little community—you spend a lot of time with other students and the teachers are right there taking care of you!”